Wondering how Carrie Underwood managed to sculpt those gorgeous gams she's displaying on the cover of her upcoming album, Blown Away? The superstar recently shared some of her diet and exercise routine with Self magazine, for which she's the April issue cover girl.
First of all, as most fans know, Underwood's been vegetarian for many years--but she decided to take the plunge, go one step further, and become vegan. "My veganism is based on a concern about where my food is coming from," she explains. "In my perfect world, I'd have webcams wherever food is processed so I'd know how clean it is."
Carrie Underwood's Self cover
Underwood admits she's not perfect, however; and sometimes cheats. "Sometimes you're at a birthday party and there's cake and...you know, you can't resist." (Yup, I think most of us can understand that, right?)
The singer uses a Livestrong.com app on her phone to track her nutritional intake, and enjoys cooking meals at home. However, she lets husband Mike Fisher--who is not a vegetarian--prepare his own meat. "If Mike wants it to taste good and doesn't want to end up in the hospital with food poisoning, it's best if he makes it himself."
As for exercise, Underwood keeps things interesting at the gym with a novel exercise tool--a deck of cards! "I take a deck of cards and assign each suit a body area--say, diamonds for arms, hearts for legs, spades for core, and clubs for cardio," she explains. "I split the deck in half and write down exercises for each suit, a different one for each half. So, if I flip over the six of hearts, I'll do six squats. If the next card is ace of diamonds, that's 14 push-ups."
Underwood is disciplined about her regimen, but doesn't forget to leave room for a little fun--such as a brew at her hockey-star husband's games. "I love going to live sports events. It's fun to have a beer and watch Mike play."
Overall, Underwood has realized that the most important person she has to please is herself. "In the beginning, my biggest fear was being criticized. Now I'm a lot better with saying, I feel good about myself and that's enough."
"I don't feel like I have as much to prove," she says. "I want to look and feel good, and do well onstage, sure, but I also want to enjoy myself."
We think you're doing a great job, Carrie! The April issue of Self is on newsstands now. Meanwhile, Blown Away will hit the streets on May 1.
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